Hey everyone,

Recently I bought a 1996 engine, tranny, and transfer case to swap into my 1990 Jeep Cherokee. I will be rebuilding the 4.0L into a 4.6L stroker over the next year. My original plan was to retrofit the 1996 4.0L to fit the Renix system installed.

As the build progressed I started kicking around the idea of swapping a OBD-II system in place of the Renix system. I am currently researching the idea and was wondering if anyone knew of any resources I could use to understand scope and benefits of this swap.

Thanks,

-Jonathan

 

I've never heard of it being done.... Maybe Cruiser54 has some info and will chime in

 

I say leave it Renix for simplicity, but that's me.

 

I've done the swap before, big chalenge to say the least. I have a 90 renix xj with 250k miles and I love her to death. Personally I like obd2 vehicles for their ability to work with scan tools. Nothing was wrong with my renix, actually wish I kept it now. But I had a 97 Cherokee with a blown cylinder that was collecting dust. So I scrapped the 97 and put all the goodies on my renix. IE entire wiring harness, cylinder head, full exhaust ( utilizing the two o2 sensors), all engine accessories, axles, clutch (different between external or internal slaves), fuel tank, gauge cluster and other things I can't remember atm. A 96 xj may be a different operating system from a 97, hence the body changes. The fuel rail only had a send line due the the regulator being in the tank. Fuse boxes are in different locations, and firewall holes are completely different. You'll have to make brackets for different electrical equipment, fill firewall holes and make new ones. Depending on what dash components you swap out you may have to splice the ign, wiper, headlight dimmers, hazards and flasher switches. Or do a whole dash swap so every thing is plug and play. I wanted to keep my renix dash so I spliced everything. All of my components work except the heater blower, that one has been tricky. Keep in mind jeep didn't keep all wire colors the same, so you can't Jude splice blue to blue. More like blue to pink with a tracer, what color of tracer it is may differ.

But it is possible and can be ran reliably, although stock factory wiring usually helps with peace of mind. I'll do my best to answer any questions you have.

 

I have also read that renix ecu's are more forgiving when tuning engine. A stroker engine on a obd2 system would require ecu flashing for the right tune. A lean running stroker could be an expensive mistake. Renix would be cheaper in the long run, I assume.

 

I agree.

 

Yeah man, who needs ecus that throw codes when we have multi meters anyway! Lol
Keep the renix system for simplicity I say